I am a peanut butter fan. Creamy or chunky. With or without jelly. On bread, saltines or graham crackers. Peanut butter and saltine crackers with a glass of Ovaltine flavored milk. Toasted bread with peanut butter and tomato soup. Cookies. Reese Cups. All good. We ate Peter Pan peanut butter for years until the salmonella problem a few years ago. Now we have Jiff.
Folks on the radio today were talking about organic foods. Heard somewhere that Jiff peanut butter is not as healthy as "organic" peanut butter. My first thought is of course, what is unorganic about a peanut? What makes "organic" peanut butter better than Jiff, Peter Pan or Skippy? I mean, is the organic peanut a free range peanut? Is Jiff made using commercial farm peanuts that are somehow deprived of freedom in neatly planted row upon row in Georgia while their free range cousins grow wherever their roots take hold somewhere in Bucolic County, USA? Is organic peanut butter produced by barefooted peasants stomping peanuts into butter in a manner similar to the way some grapes are stomped into wine? The commercial farm peanut is squashed into an undignified butter using some sort of giant, mechanical press.
Well, it turns out there are two significant differences between organic peanut butter and commercial peanut butters like Jiff. One difference is our friend, sodium. Jiff, Skippy and Peter Pan have about 150 mg of sodium in each 2 tablespoon serving while an organic peanut butter has about 85 mg in the same serving size. Calories are about the same between the two types of peanut butter as are other dietary items such as saturated fats, protein and carbs. The other difference is sticker shock. An 18 oz jar of Jiff creamy peanut butter is about $8. An 18 oz jar of O Organics creamy peanut butter is about $25. That's just crazy.
I'll stick with Jiff. I mean, who am I to argue with choosy mothers?
4 comments:
Ya know, I've done some research on peanut butter, too, since Oliver and Maggie eat it nearly ever day for lunch. I now go with "natural" peanut butter. Not organic, just "natural". They have the same differences in sodium levels as regular vs organic. And the "natural" is also minus the heart-clogging partially hydrgenated oils that put trans fats in the peanut butter. A final benefit... It costs a little more than the regular stuff, but not that much more. I get a 28oz container of Natural Jif for about $3 and change. Not too bad. Guess I'm a choosy mom.
I read about the transfats, too. Jif and the others are eliminating the process, or might have done so by now, that created the transfats. Or at least that's what I read in a couple of different places. So, is there a difference between "regular" and "natural"? Those oils are apparently what made the peanut butter really "creamy". I noticed that the last jar of Jif had a different consistency than before. I need to look at the label and see if it is a "natural" jar or regular.
Yes, there's a difference between natural and regular. I'm sure they use the word "natural" to appeal to people. I don't know exactly what it's supposed to mean. But my Natural Jif has palm oil instead of hydrogenated vegetable oil and partially hydrogenated oils. From what I understand (and it's not much...), the "hydrogenated" part gives you trans fat. In some of the natural peanut butters the oils separate and you have to stir them. Not in the stuff I buy. As far as organic, I think it just has to do with how the ingredients are grown: without the use of pesticides and such. So I guess my peanut butter doesn't have trans fats, but it could have some pesticide resides??
I've been thinking about this a lot...I think Mr. Peanut is behind the whole thing! And I do mean BEHIND - I've never seen a guy with hips that big, his hips must be stuffed with money from all those poor peanuts that he has squashed their free will. He is truly rolling in the dough with all his fancy attire. Regular = Repressive.
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